"I see," Yamcha said after a lengthy pause. "So what was it that you were after again? An autograph or something?"

"Huh?" Videl asked. "I told you: I'm interested in hearing more about Son Goku for the project I'm working on."

"I've said all I have to say," Yamcha responded. "Great guy, an even better martial artist. One of a kind."

"Is that all?" questioned Videl. Just moments ago the ex-bandit had been willing to divulge all sorts of information about his late friend but now she was getting the impression that he wanted to move on. And quickly.

"What more would you need for a school project?" asked Yamcha with a frown. "I get the feeling I've already said too much."

"Has this got something to do with who I am?" She bit down on her lip. "I get it. You like to keep to yourself but-"

"More your father than you," he admitted tentatively. He looked at her blankly. "It's best we end things here."

"Whatever he's done – believe me, I know just how thick-headed he can be - I'm sorry," she said. "Please…"

He shook his head apologetically. "Sorry kid, but I've done my bit. I'm sure you can ask your dad about Son Goku if he fascinates you that much."

"Whenever I do, all he does is launch into a tirade about how martial arts has been corrupted by con men who use fancy camera angles and lighting tricks!" Videl protested. "I really feel like I'm onto something here. Please tell me more. I'm at my wit's end."

"Typical," snorted Yamcha before shaking his head. "Anyway, it's getting late."

…

Gohan drummed his fingers on the dinner table, sitting across from his mother. She kept one eye on the stove to her left and another on Gohan as she made conversation with her eldest. Since he was well ahead on all his homework, he had come to the table a little earlier this evening.

"So, how's it going with Videl?" she asked.

Gohan rubbed the back of his neck and avoided eye contact. "It's going well. She hasn't caught on to anything yet," he said.

"Are you sure training is all you're doing?" Chichi asked sternly. She met his eyes with an intense glare.

"Y-yeah, what else would we be doing?" Gohan stuttered, surprised by his mother's sudden change in demeanour. She eyed him for a few seconds more before nodding, satisfied.

"Nothing. I was just checking," she said. Gohan raised an eyebrow but pushed the issue no further.

She stood and walked over to where her pot sat. The water inside bubbled as it boiled. She lifted her wooden spoon and began to stir.

"Answer me honestly. How do you feel about this girl?" Chichi asked.

Gohan shrugged. "She's alright," he responded. Chichi smiled.

"Just alright?" she pushed. She laid her spoon to rest next to the pot and returned to her seat.

"Yeah, I guess. Why?" Gohan asked.

"Please, Gohan. You can't hide these things from your own mother," she said. Gohan blankly stared back at her with a confused look. "There's obviously something going on between the two of you. Besides, I like her anyway."

Gohan blushed and nervously chuckled. "N-no Mum. It's not like that!" he assured her.

"If you say so. But a mother always knows, Gohan," she said, rising to her feet once more to continue her work at the stove.

"I mean, she is kinda good-looking, but that doesn't mean I like her," he defended. "I'm just doing this to protect my secrets, so we don't have to worry about all the attention we'd get if the cat were let out of the bag."

"Are you sure?" she asked, not glancing away from her stew.

Gohan was silent in response. No, he wasn't sure, but he knew whatever small attraction he felt to her would be fleeting. It would most definitely prove to be unrequited, so whatever Chichi saw between them was nonexistent.

"It's normal for you to be attracted to girls at your age, anyway," she chuckled. "I asked your father to marry me when we were twelve."

Gohan nodded. He had heard the story many times before.

"Whatever you're feeling is completely normal, Gohan," she said.

"I never said I felt anything," he protested. He watched his mother turn off the stove and carry the hefty pot to the table. She lifted the lid, allowing the steam to rise out and fill the room. His mouth watered at the smell.

"I might like her, but if your grades start slipping because you're distracted by some girl then you can say goodbye to those training sessions, mister," Chichi warned.

"They won't, Mum," he assured her. Chichi scooped the stew into a white bowl using a spoon and set it down. Gohan lifted the bowl in front of him and gathered his own helping.

"Good. Goten, dinner's ready!" she yelled into the other room.

"Coming, Mum!" a voice called back. Seconds later, Goten charged into the room and planted himself onto a chair. "Oh, boy, this looks good," he stated.

Before the Saiyan children began to devour their first helping, Chichi beamed at Gohan with pride. He returned the smile. Although he had ducked around the issue and tried his damnedest to avoid it, Chichi knew that her little boy was beginning to grow up. It almost brought a tear to her eye.

...

Videl's face flushed a tinge as she corrected Gohan's stance. By now, their rooftop training sessions had become apart of their weekly routine – twice before school and once afterwards on Wednesdays – but she was beginning to question whether they were even having an impact.

She couldn't help shake the feeling that everything Gohan had learnt could have been covered in a half-hour long session with a proper instructor. As it stood, a typical session consisted of Gohan failing to adequately replicate some basic technique while Videl gawked at the mountain-boy in hopes that if she stared hard enough, his chest would tear in two and all his secrets would spill forth onto the grimy asphalt terrace. Usually, the rest of lesson included all sorts of awkward contact as Videl tried to coax his lanky body into manoeuvring in the correct fashion.

She was getting better at masking her reaction to it, but it was the first time Videl had ever had such prolonged intimate contact with another person before. Erasa would laugh at her for clamming up every now and then because Gohan's stray forearm brushed her side in a funny way, but Videl couldn't help but find it exciting. Electrifying at times, even.

Contrary to her friend's claims, she didn't feel any particular attraction to Gohan. If she even had a type, he would most certainly not be it. Meek and quiet, studious and unathletic… everything about him was fundamentally different to her own self.

The most redeeming trait about her student was that he was a good person. A really good one. Even if she was convinced he was hiding something, it was obvious that his concern for others was heartfelt and authentic - almost to the point where it annoyed her.

If there was one thing she was jealous of, it wasn't his perfect exam scores or exemplary rapport with the teachers but his heart of gold.

"Uhhh… you were saying?" he asked awkwardly, snapping her away from her thoughts as the prolonged silence shattered.

"Yes, until you've honed your speed enough, it's best not to block with your arms cross…" she trailed off, unsure what was supposed to come out of her mouth next. A glance at her pupil indicated that he wasn't particularly interested in her explanation either. "Hey Gohan, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, why not?" He shrugged.

Videl prodded her fingers together. "Why are you so nice to people? Doesn't it get tiresome?"

"What do you mean?"

"How do you manage to always give people the benefit of the doubt?" she asked. "No matter how hard I try, I always end up lashing out or getting irritated at something."

"Well, being a good person doesn't mean you're not allowed to get frustrated at things," he said, diplomatically. "It just means that, in the end, you do the right thing."

"So how come you never seem to get frustrated?" asked Videl. "Everybody has to have a breaking point, so what makes you tick?"

The boy considered her words carefully for a few moments before answering.

"... When people aren't very nice to others."

She could have laughed but instead settled for a brisk sigh. "Figures. I don't know what I was expecting."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I just don't like to get mad when I can help it. It's not like it makes the problem go away."

"Yeah, but what if the problem was created by someone else?" she asked. How was she not meant to feel irritated that she had been stonewalled because of the sins of her father? "Is it wrong to get a little annoyed then?"

"Not at all," said Gohan before straightening up. "I have a question for you. Are you a person that does the right thing?"

She looked at him oddly. He was framing things like a toddler, as if good and bad were two sides to a dichotomy. "Uhh, I guess. I try to… most of the time."

"Most of the time?" he repeated. "Tha-"

She wilted. She couldn't help it. "There's something that I've been holding close to my chest, Gohan, and I just have to let it out. Alright?"

"Okay?" he said, his left brow cocked upward.

"I was there," she confessed. At his behest, she elaborated. "A few weeks back, when this all started. The day you got busted up... bad. I was there."

"Yeah, I know," he said with a grin that would do an innocent child proud. "You were the one who saved me from all those thugs, remember?"

Videl's fingers clutched at her gloved palms, beads of sweat lining the insides.

"No, I mean I was there before," she said. "Before you got hurt. I was watching. I sat and did nothing as they came at you - I was so eager to prove to the world that you were Saiyaman that I let them attack you."

"I see," he said as he considered her words for a few moments. He spoke with a sense of deliberate calm. "Thank you for telling me."

"I'll understand if you want nothing to do with me." Videl sniffled - she normally wasn't so weak, but she just couldn't help herself - as she looked to the ground in remorse. "Really, this whole training thing has just been about making myself feel better, feel less guilty."

"Why would I want that?" he asked nonchalantly. "These sessions have been great. I'm learning how to defend myself."

"You're not mad?" she asked in disbelief, turning to her side so Gohan would not see her rub at her eyelids. He shook his head. "Why not?"

"We all make mistakes," he said with conviction. "I can't blame you for the actions of those thugs or for hesitating in the heat of the moment. The Saiyaman thing is important to you - I get it - so it couldn't have been an easy decision to make. And you still saved me at the end of the day."

She nodded in acceptance of the explanation. "Do you still think I'm a good person?"

"Only you know the answer to that," he said sagely, "but for the record, yes. I do."

…

Gohan didn't sleep well that night. He tossed and turned in his bedsheets, unable to banish guilty thoughts from an idle mind.

He had never wanted to put Videl through all that.

Sure, he could see that most of the conflict in her bleary eyes was internal. Frustration that she had put a classmate in danger, guilt that she had kept it a secret and remorse that she could never undo it - all issues stemming from her own conscious choices, but choices that Gohan was at the epicentre of.

Her obsession with Saiyaman had driven her to wait an extra few seconds on that fateful day, and it was only now that Gohan began to realise that he had helped cultivate it by playing the Saiyaman game. Maybe if he had been upfront with her, or had a genuine conversation with her while donning the helmet she might have cooled off?

Of course, it didn't help that those thugs hadn't actually hurt him. He had. He'd assaulted himself, damaging his own body at breakneck speeds that humans couldn't comprehend. The difference between what the gang members might have done to a regular human and what he had done to himself was not purely academic.

He had never expected that keeping his identity a secret would prove so difficult. Between Videl's initial nosiness and now the firm prodding of his own conscience, he was beginning to wonder if it was really worth all the hassle.

All in all, he needed to clear his head.

"Wake up, squirt," he said as he nudged Goten awake. "I'm heading out for a bit of a workout. Figured you might want to join me."

"Huh?" muttered Goten. He rubbed the crust at the corners of his eyes away in a stupor before bouncing upright. "You mean it?"

"Of course I do," replied Gohan. "Now hurry up and get dressed. We might be able to squeeze in a pre-breakfast snack if we're back in time."

That was all the motivation the child needed. Seconds later, he had donned his fighting gi and was pushing his older brother out the front door.

"We're gonna train together!" he sang to himself as pumped his arms around in celebration.

"Wow, you're awfully… excited about this," remarked Gohan as he took the lead.

"I barely get to hang out with you these days," explained Goten. "You're always super busy at school or with Mrs Bulma or something."

"Huh," said Gohan after a moment or two. "I guess you're right. I haven't been spending that much time at home lately."

"It's okay, though. I made lots of new friends with all the animals," said Goten as he perked up.

Gohan led his brother across a few mountains towards a clearing that his father had once used with him. He bent over a knee and began stretching.

"Aren't you going to warm up?" he asked Goten after a moment or two. "Your limbs will feel all stiff later."

"Right," said Goten as he held his arms by his sides and clenched his fists. A silver aura flared into existence and the boy disappeared from sight for a few seconds until he returned, panting. "There. All warm."

"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind," Gohan muttered to himself. He shrugged and powered up too. "Let's get started then."

…

Knock knock.

Yamcha opened the door only to let out an exasperated sigh. "What are you doing here, kid? I thought I told you to scram the other evening."

"I wasn't being entirely upfront with you back then," said Videl. "You were right to turn me away."

Yamcha reached for the door handle, preparing to deny her entrance. "Good now that that's settl-"

"It's about Son Gohan."

He perked up. "What about him… and how do you know that name?" It wasn't like Goku and Chichi had gone out of their way to publicise any information about their family since the pair had married and gone into recluse on Mount Paozu.

"We're friends. He goes to my high school," Videl revealed. "I'm worried about him, and was hoping you'd be able to help with my problem."

"Okay, I'm listening," Yamcha said, finally stepping aside and gesturing for her to come inside. "Why are you worried about the kid? And what was with the whole Goku front last time?"

He led her to the same room as last time and gestured for her to take a seat.

"I think he's repressing pent-up feelings about his dad's death. I think it's been it's been weighing on him," Videl explained.

Yamcha shot her a look almost as if to say that she would need to offer more than that.

"I've been teaching him how to fight," she expanded. "Nothing major, of course, but I figured he could benefit from learning how to throw a punch an-"

"Wait, you're teaching him how to fight?" Yamcha asked, enunciating every other word for emphasis. He rubbed his temples gingerly. Why couldn't he have answered the door to some aspiring actress that doubled as a model like usual?

"Yeah," she said slowly. "Is that funny to you?"

Realising that he was on eggshells, Yamcha elected to tiptoe. "It's just a little odd to someone like me who knew just how formidable a fighter Goku was."

"My dad won a World Tournament too," said Videl, crossing her arms at the same instant her eyes narrowed. "And besides, Gohan doesn't know how to fight."

"Yeah, you're right," said Yamcha. "His mother was never a big fan of all this. Sorry, carry on."

"I had him watch a few fights from the tournaments that took place before the whole thing got cancelled," Videl continued. "I think you might have featured in a few, but what I'm getting at is that we watched one of his father's fights and he didn't so much as bat an eyelid or say a word - even when his younger brother, Goten, popped out of nowhere."

"So basically, he's conveniently left out everything to do with his father since the beginning of these training sessions you've been having?" Yamcha winced.

"Yeah," said Videl. "I did some deep thinking on it and the only conclusion I was able to come to is that it would be too much for him to bring up, still. I remember I felt the same way about my mum for years, too."

"Given the way Goku died, I wouldn't be too surprised if he feels a little guilty," Yamcha admitted. He loved the kid but he had inherited his father's terrible habit of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. "He's stupid like that sometimes. How do you want to help him?"

"I'd like to meet some family friends who knew Goku well but also know Gohan, if that's alright," said Videl. "Just to get a better picture of what he might be going through. I don't really have any leads to go on except for his friends from the World Tournament."

"I think I have just the person in mind," said Yamcha apprehensively. He was concerned for Gohan but somehow it didn't seem like a good idea to have Hercule Satan's daughter snooping around.

"Krillin?" she guessed.

"You've done your homework," he acknowledged. "I'll see if I can get in touch with him."

"Thank you," Videl said. "Can you jot down a number I can reach you at?" She offered him a thin green piece of paper and a pen, then stared expectantly. Once he'd written the requisite information for her, she bid her goodbyes and slinked out the front door. If he wasn't suspicious before of her, he certainly was now.

He quickly dialled a few digits on his phone, dreading what he had to relay even more when he got a pleased, "Yamcha?" on the other end.

"Hey, buddy, have I got something to tell you! I had a friend of yours here just now..."

…

Gohan's mind raced at a pace faster than his own body as he tore through the sky. Yamcha's words rang in his ears on loop, the only sound that could penetrate the howling of the fierce gales of wind on the way to Capsule Corp.

The bandit had promised to do his best to avoid revealing anything else to Videl but the damage was done. Krillin had already been drawn into this and if her tenacity in getting this far was anything to go by, Bulma was next. He figured that he could probably convince Krillin to do him a favour and refrain from arousing Videl's suspicions but he didn't have anywhere near as much faith in the Briefs. Vegeta would just need to say one wrong word and his house of cards would come tumbling down. And that wasn't even beginning to account for Trunks and his mischief!

"Calm down," Bulma said, when he finally arrived, as she sipped hot coffee from a mug. Like usual, there were bags under her eyes and her hair was a mess - along with her labcoat, all telltale signs that she had spent the past eighteen hours tinkering with something. "So this girl knows about Yamcha and Krillin, huh?"

"And obsessively watches videos of old martial arts tournaments," said Gohan as he put a hand to his forehead. His secret was gone. Once she figured out who his father was, how long would it take her to connect him to Saiyaman? He would have figured that she would probably keep that information to herself if he asked her to but he knew that she would most definitely be pissed once she discovered the extent of his deceit. There was no telling what she would do. "She has to know who dad is by now. First, she made me watch a video of him fighting some monster as a kid and now she's gone after Yam-"

"Relax, kiddo," said Bulma as she held out a hand to silence the boy. "Here, walk with me," she instructed as she took a few steps forward.

He followed her out of the living room and through the kitchen to her laboratory, eyeing anything and everything that flashed before his eyes in an attempt to make the silence that had enveloped between the two less awkward.

"I've got a gift for you," she said eventually, grabbing a small box from her desk and handing it to the Saiyan. "Something to take your mind off all this, even for just a moment or two."

"Oh," he said, taking the item out of the box. It was a black watch with a dull silver framing the edges of the face. "Thank you."

"I know you've got your undies in a knot over this girl but have you already forgotten the new watch I told you I was working on? The one that can function as both a ki suppressor and a Saiyaman suit?" asked Bulma incredulously. "Y'know, I'd have thought that you of all people would be a little more impressed by the marvellous feat of engineering that you're holding within your fingertips right now. You don't want to know how many watches I've had to waste. I even managed to squeeze in a few upgrades to your Saiyaman suit"

"No, I appreciate it," said Gohan, standing a little straighter. "I really do. It's just that this Videl situation is something I've never had to deal with before. I know it's not quite Cell or Frieza but it doesn't feel any less important."

"Oh Gohan," said Bulma with a shake of her head. "You're making me think back to when I was a teenager. Did anyone ever tell you that I spent the better part of an entire year and wasted millions of zeni trying to gather the Dragon Balls so I could wish for the perfect boyfriend?"

"No, I always figured that you just wanted to see if the legend was true," said Gohan. He couldn't quite see the relevance to his current dilemma but he was much too polite to say anything.

"Well, during that incredible year, I met Yamcha," said Bulma. "And it was incredible. I was swooning for him - head over heels - even though we were pretty different people in hindsight. I spent so much time worrying about my own appearance and other frivolous things to impress him, time that I ultimately wasted because, in the end, he wasn't the right person for me."

"What do you mean?" asked Gohan. "I keep telling everyone, Videl and I-"

"Just let me finish," said Bulma. "And besides, I have eyes - it's nothing to feel embarrassed about Gohan."

His shoulders slumped in reluctant acceptance of Bulma's words.

"There are two outcomes here. Either she never finds out about your secrets or she does," said Bulma. "I'm not going to judge your decision to keep secrets but the latter seems like the more likely scenario, by your own volition or her persistence. If she does care about you - as a friend, or maybe something more - than she will understand your decisions, Gohan. She might get mad at you but there's no point fretting about it because she will come around in the end if you're someone that matters to her. It's as simple as that, Gohan."

He sighed deeply. "I guess you're right. I think I'm almost as worried about her reaction to what I've done to protect my secret as I am worried about her finding out my secrets - nevermind the fact that I was Saiyaman, all along."

"It's a complicated situation," said Bulma, taking another sip from her coffee which had begun to go cold now. "There's no doubt about that but remember that you are your father's son. You can do stupid things but there's not a bad bone in your body."

'I wish that were true,' thought Gohan who instead opted to offer the older woman a curt nod. Like usual, she was right for the most part but he couldn't help but feel she was looking at him like her would-be nephew as opposed to the lense Videl would scrutinise him through.

…

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